Violent Delights
by Acey Rey
Summary: The Raft was a maximum security prison designed to hold the worlds most dangerous criminals. Steve broke his Avengers out, but they didn't leave the Raft alone. Amelia doesn't look like much but she's harboring a secret. One that could save the Avengers... Or destroy them.
1. Chapter 1

The Raft.

Amelia had heard of it, but never in a thousand years did she think she'd be detained within its cold walls. They were scared of her, and it seemed Ross was unwilling to take any chances with this _Enhanced_ human. Amelia was a prisoner, kept like all the other residents of the Raft, isolated in a cell. On the off chance she managed to avoid the video and audio surveillance, shed the the reinforced straight jacket pinning her arms, or the negation collar suppressing her abilities, Amelia would have to get through shatter proof, bulletproof glass, a hall filled with armed guards, several feet of reinforced steel, and however many miles of water before she'd even reach fresh air. There was no telling how far the Raft was from land or if she could survive long enough to reach it.

As far as maximum security prisons, went... The Raft was pretty efficient.

It was hard to tell how long she'd been there. There was no concept of night or day in the bowels of the submerged prison. The guards rotated but none of them were willing to speak to Amelia, let alone hold up a calendar for her to peruse. The time dragged tediously onward and Amelia was certain she was going to lose her mind sitting in a cell day after day, hugging herself and waiting for a chance to escape. But Ross's men were careful. They didn't make mistakes. Amelia was trapped, and she was alone.

Over the passing days (weeks?) a few others were brought in to occupy the surrounding cells but no one bothered her. Some screamed. Some pleaded, like she had at the beginning. A few cried themselves to sleep at night. But none of them spoke to each other. Amelia alone would sit in the corner of her cell and as the lights went out in the block and sing until there was silence, her low, sweet voice resounding off the high metal ceiling. It was just a way to pass the time, Amelia's way to sooth herself. Eventually the screaming and the pleading from the other cells stopped.

The crying usually didn't.

Laughter was the last thing Amelia expected to hear on the Raft. A slew of guards ushered in a small crew that had nothing but grins and smirks for each other and Ross's men as they were led to individual cells. Amelia watched from behind her glass in awe. Those were faces she recognized and names she'd only ever read about in books. Amelia could not believe the Avengers were being detained. There were more of them, weren't there? Ironman, of course. The Thunder god. The Hulk. Wasp. The Wakandan prince and the Black Knight. Where was Carol? And Captain America?

Amelia shivered.

A guard slammed his nightstick against the glass and glared. Amelia must have been showing too much interest for his liking. Bright eyed, mind whirring, she pressed herself into the corner and stayed silent.

She was almost certain this handful of Earth's mightiest heroes didn't realize they weren't alone on the block. Amelia listened to them talk quietly amongst themselves. Discussing the 'good old days' when being an Avenger was easy. The fight that had gotten them tossed into the Raft in the first place. Amicably teasing each other. She smiled at their playful banter, their bravery in the face of the unknown. They seemed so young. Most of them were older than Amelia but they weren't the wise and seasoned protectors of justice she'd read about a hundred times over. They were just... People.

A man appeared one day. Not a guard. His face so painfully familiar that Amelia stopped breathing as he stood in the center of the cellblock, smiling. It wasn't the smile she was used to. It was kind instead of cruel. Warm and open. His tepid blue eyes scanned the cells, almost amused. She knew him on sight and Amelia let out a small ghost of a whisper. "Rogers."

Captain America. The _real_ Captain America. Steve Rogers, born in nineteen-twenty. More Avengers missions under his belt than any of them. The very first Avenger... His list of accomplishments was a lengthy one and Amelia watched, totally star struck, as he performed a jail break in the world's most secure prison. One by one, the cells were opened and the occupants were freed.

Clint barton stepped out, stretching and grinning. "Took ya long enough, Cap."

"I took the scenic route," Steve answered with a lazy smile and released the second cage.

Scott Lang stumbled out looking dishevelled and supremely grateful. "Wow. Captain America just saved me. You are saving us, right? I mean, this looks like you're saving us but... Ya know what? I'm gonna shut up now." Scott staggered off with a delighted, "Arrow guy!"

Amelia let out a small gasp when Sam Wilson strode out of the next cell. The Falcon himself. "Knew you were coming," he told Steve, hugging the man before releasing him and walking over to the cell between his own and Amelia's. "Jesus. You alright, Wanda?"

"I would be better out of this cage." A slightly accented voice was muffled by the glass. Steve and Sam hurriedly opened the last cell and Wanda Maximoff was helped out. Like Amelia, Wanda was wrapped in a straight jacket, a negation collar tight at her throat. Both men quickly undid the straps that pinned Wanda's arms and as the sleeves fell slack, she shook the the garment away. "Thank you."

Sam was examining the collar, clearly confused. "Is this thing one solid piece? How..."

"It's an inhibitor," Amelia hadn't meant to speak up and when all eyes were suddenly on her, she took a nervous step back from the glass. "It's, uh... Well, it keeps her from accessing her powers. The tech is weird but it's easy enough to bypass if you know how."

Steve Rogers casually walked up to the glass, warm blue eyes examining Amelia like she was a critter in a zoo. Of all the people in the room, he was the last one Amelia wanted looking at her but she stared back, her own dusty blue eyes fixed on his face. It was unnerving. Familiar and wrong all at a same time. "And do you know how?" he asked with a small gesture at Wanda's collar.

"Get me out. And I'll get her out." There was no supplication in Amelia's tone. Just impulsivity, as though the thought had only just struck her. "I can get her collar off if you take me with you."

Sam turned his back to Amelia's cell, speaking quietly. "We don't know her. We can't be sure she doesn't deserve to be here."

"No one _deserves_ to be in a place like this," Clint came over to stand with the others and slung an around Wanda's shoulders. "Were you the one singing all those nights?" he asked. He had a nice smile. Friendly. Goofy. Not like his overly attractive teammates. He was just a guy and Amelia nodded, looking at him instead of the others gathered in front of her cell. "How'd you get in here, sweetheart?"

Amelia huffed. "Wrong place. Wrong time. Ross doesn't like Enhanced, especially when they disrupt his golf game." It wasn't the whole truth but it was enough of it. Maybe Sam and Steve could sense that Amelia wasn't being entirely honest. Their eyes were searching for something as they stared at her through the glass.

"Let her out." Wanda spoke up for her and Amelia almost smiled.

Steve paused, considering her intently before he released the cell door. Amelia stepped out cautiously. "Don't make me regret that..."

"Mia," she answered. Hands were at her back helping to unbuckle the straight jacket. "You can call me Mia."

"Mia..."

Her name on Steve Rogers' lips made her flinch but she hid it, shrugging off the straitjacket and kicking it away. "Thank you," she said quietly. Her arms ached after being held immobile for so long. She rotated her shoulders with a grimace. "They have my stuff. I could try to crack the collars without them but it will be way more difficult."

"Yeah, they have my stuff too!" Scott piped up. He grinned at Amelia, eyes sweeping over her curiously. "You're so tiny. Why were they scared of you?"

Mia smirked. "Same reason they're scared of you when _you're_ tiny."

Sam's eyes narrowed. The girl didn't seem particularly threatening but she seemed to know a thing or two about them. Like who Scott was and what he could do. And how did she know about the fancy tech choking off Wanda's powers? He had questions but there wasn't time to ask a single one. "Gonna need to get my wings, too, Steve. Is there a plan?"

There was a reckless glint in Steve's eyes. "We ask nicely," he said simply.

"And when they start shooting?" Clint asked. The smile on the man's face hinted he already knew the answer.

Steve headed toward the door. "We ask less nicely."


	2. Chapter 2

Sam's instinct was to not blindly trust the girl. There were too many variables. Too much about her was unknown. Steve, at least, was willing to give her a chance but Sam suspected Steve was a little too loose with his trust.

Some people had to earn it.

As they ascended upwards toward intake, both men kept a wary eye on Mia. In Sam's opinion, the girl didn't look like much but that did nothing to abate his unease. Wanda looked pretty harmless at first glance, too, and nothing could have been further from the truth. Mentally, Sam assessed her. Mia was young, maybe in her mid-twenties, and was incredibly petite, barely even five feet tall. Her frame was slender and willowy but it was hard to discern much due to the shapeless blue prison uniform they had all been forced to wear. She moved with an easy grace, a lightness in her step. Mia's massive eyes were a stormy blue, intelligent and had a daydreamer's unfocus, framed by long dark lashes. Her features were delicate and defined, her bow-shaped lips heavy. Dark, honey-blonde hair that fell somewhere between wavy and curly, tumbled past her shoulders. It was matted with sweat and neglect at the moment but had at some point been styled with care. She was a pretty girl, soft and fragile looking.

But time was short and at that moment, no one gave a shit how pretty their stray was. Their belongings had been sealed away on an upper level of the Raft, their cell numbers stamped on each metal box. The moment he located his, Sam tore into his box like it was Christmas and practically cuddled his wings before slinging his harness on and securing it. The goggles and gauntlets were carefully inspected before donned and tugged into place. Clint cracked his box and began organizing his arrows and checking his bow, totally nonplussed. Wanda's box only contained her red leather jacket and she slid it on with a small smile. Scott excitedly shed his blue jumpsuit for _his_ suit.

"Come to daddy," he crooned to the helmet. "Did you miss me? It's ok, I'll be gentle."

Amelia spotted her box on a high shelf and immediately started climbing up to get it like a kid on the monkey bars. "Need a hand?" Steve was looking up at her, his hands in his pockets. One eyebrow was arched, an easy grin on his face. He was so relaxed, totally at ease even in the depths of an underwater prison. He was trying to be friendly, to get a feel for the girl, but she was looking down at him with visible fear in her eyes. "Mia?"

"Catch," she said quietly, turning away from him so she could hide her discomfort. She wasn't able to quite stall the tremble in her voice, though, and Steve's grin turned into one of confusion. Sure there were people who were afraid of him but they were usually the folks who landed opposite him in a fight. And rarely, if ever, were women so put off by his reassuring smile. Mia was an odd one for sure.

Actively focusing on anything but Steve Rogers, Mia tugged her box off the shelf and let it fall. Steve caught it without any difficulty. He did not wait for her to climb back down. He simply peeled the lid back as though it were made of felt instead of steel. Steve looked into the box, then back up at Mia, uncertain. "Sand?" Her box was full to the brim with fine black powder. It was grainy in his hands like sand but not exactly the right texture.

Amelia grinned as she dropped down in front of Steve. "Not even close. Wake up, Felix. Good boy." She seemed to be addressing the sand and when the box started shaking, Steve let out a slightly undignified string of curses. Was it magic? Or some new horror? Why was the damned girl looking so smug? Steve scowled as the sand rose out of the box of its own accord and started to swirl around Mia, taking on a shape as it compressed tightly upon itself. The whole sifting mess settled at Mia's hips as... A belt. It was a belt. "Meet Felix," she said softly. "He's nanotech."

Scott was the only one who seemed excited by her declaration. "Really? Nanotech? Developed by who? What's it's design? Where'd you get it? How does it work?" Amelia blinked in alarm at his almost overwhelming enthusiasm but she seemed to relax in the wake of his positive energy.

Sam did not. "Talk nerdy to each other later," he suggested, pulling his goggles down and scanning their surroundings for signs of danger. "Let's get the hell outta here."

"Agreed." Steve handed Amelia her her box and started to lead the way. The rest of the Avengers fell in line behind him with practiced ease. They were a well-oiled team, even with half of them missing.

Now that the microscopic nanos had been emptied out of it, the box was almost empty. Only one thing had been left inside. It looked kind of like a cell phone, but a bit more cylindrical. Deftly Amelia palmed it, pressing the small device to her belt. The nanos seemed to swallow it up, securing it in place. "Good boy, Felix." Amelia hurried to catch up with the others. She was not a fighter and falling behind seemed like a good way to end up back in a cage.


	3. Chapter 3

There had been some... reticence from the remaining conscious guards onboard the Raft. Scott, Sam, and Clint met Ross's men with the rigor of warriors kept too long out of battle. They shook off the cobwebs the fun way with quick, efficient (albeit non-lethal means) all the while quipping and snarking at each other and their opponents. Steve lent a hand when necessary but mostly let his men reacquaint themselves with a brawl. Wanda, to her credit, was not to be left out. Powers or no, the Sokovian grabbed a baton off a guard Clint had put down and dove into the fight. There were perks to being trained by Captain America and the Black Widow. She didn't need telekinesis to whoop a man who clearly underestimated her.

Amelia on the other hand had not been terribly useful. Twice Steve saw her grabbing at her collar, clearly frustrated as she ducked and dodged and danced away from anyone who tried to touch her. She was a fast little thing and light on her feet, but she did not engage. The look on her pretty face was unmistakable, however. Amelia was furious. She had on the expression of a person who was not used to running from a fight but saw no other choice. Steve read her well. There was plenty Amelia could have done to help aid their escape if only that damn collar weren't strapped around her throat.

In the end, the Avengers plus one boarded the quinjet and rapidly departed the Raft unharmed. Ross's men had also all survived the encounter, battered and bruised but all still breathing. It was more than they would have allowed their escaped prisoners but Steve held his team to a higher standard than Ross did. They did not take lives unless they had to. The Captain let Clint take the pilot's chair and the Archer ran his hands over the familiar controls, a peaceful look on his face.

Steve was busy supervising the show taking place in the cabin. Amelia knelt in front of Wanda, her stormy blue eyes concentrating. Sam was beside her, holding a light steady to ensure the beam fell on the small, seamless compartment on Wanda's collar that Amelia was delicately peeling back. It had been all but invisible but it had taken Amelia only a few minutes studying the abhorrent contraption, circling Wanda until she'd discovered the panel. Scott was supposed to be watching, learning how to disassemble the collar so he could remove Amelia's once Wanda was free but he was too mesmerized by Felix.

The inconspicuous, simple black utility belt that sat low on Amelia's hips was some sort of living metal comprised of hundreds of thousands of teeny little nanobots. Each functioned independently but when combined with all the others they became so much more. Like cells combining to become tissue, tissues combining to become organs, than organ system and so on. Alone the nanobots were nothing. Together they were a responsive organism that fluidly maneuvered and reacted to Amelia's needs as they arose. Since she started working on the collar, Steve, Sam, and Scott had gotten to see Felix in action, a myriad of tiny nanobots fracturing away from the belt and reshaping in Amelia's hand to form different tools as she needed them.

Nanotech, baby.

Sam's eyes were glued to the girl, his usual smile pressed out into a thin line. Amelia was using the nanos... _Felix_ , he corrected himself. She was using Felix as some sort of toolbox. But the potential applications of that kind of tech was staggering. It was no wonder Ross had confiscated it and thrown Amelia in a cell. Plus, there was the collar clinging around her neck. And if someone coupled the nano-belt with an unknown Enhancement? There was no telling what the kid was capable of. He shot a look at Steve.

Steve acknowledged Sam with a slight frown.

"Scott, are you paying attention? Because I need you to pay attention." For what was possibly the tenth time in as many minutes, Amelia cast an exasperated look to Ant-Man. He was supposed to be this brilliant electrical engineer, a master thief, but he was sort of like a large man child that hadn't taken his ritalin that morning. It was already nerve wracking enough to try and get anything done with Steve Rogers at her back, but the collars were finicky. If you knew what you were doing it was no big deal, and Wanda was in perfectly good hands, but Amelia was going to need help getting her own collar off. If Scott didn't start focusing soon, she was going to be shit out of luck.

"Scott!"

"No. Yeah. Totally watching. Can I use the cool belt, too? Or is that... Is that just a you thing?" Scott's eyes followed the black amorphous material as it changed in Amelia's closed fist to clamp down on the small panel and help lift it away from the collar to expose the wiring inside.

Amelia shook her head. "It's just a me thing. You could try but it would take Felix time to get familiar with you. Felix knows what I need before I do most of the time." There was a lot more to Felix than what met the eye but for the time being its true purpose was to remain a secret. The clamp in her hand flung away the small panel and changed into something that looked like a pointy version of a lock pick. Amelia turned her large, blue eyes up to Wanda and gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Wanda, you're doing great. Just hang in there a little longer."

"I will hang in as long as necessary," Wanda answered dryly. She wanted her powers back, and right now please. Her opinion of the honey-blonde was thus far unformed. Amelia was doing her best to be helpful, and there was no doubt that Ross was certainly an 'imprison first, **adjudicate** later kind of man, but there was always the possibility that Amelia had _belonged_ on the Raft.

"Scott!"

"I just wanna touch it!"

Amelia pinched her eyes shut in frustration. "Mia." She stiffened at the sound of a soft, easy voice behind her. "Don't worry. I'm paying attention." Steve was, in fact, quietly watching every movement of her tools, where they picked at the wires, carefully moving them aside, and how delicate each step was. He was also watching the level of concentration with which Amelia worked. She was wholly focused, careful, and precise. This was someone used to working in these exact conditions.

She also didn't seem to care for Steve much at all.

Every time he spoke to her, every time she laid eyes on him, Amelia seemed to tense as though she found his very presence painful. She had yet to say one word to Steve that wasn't about the collars, or willingly acknowledge him in any way. Were he a less secure man, Steve might have been offended. As it was, he was simply curious. Amelia was a mystery.

There was a whirr from the collar and Wanda yelped, but the collar clattered to the floor with a hiss. Amelia immediately kicked the thick slab of metal away, disgust plain on her face before she rounded on Wanda, examining where the ugly device had bitten into her skin. "I don't see any punctures," she said quietly. "No broken skin at all. You're lucky. Some of these things are rigged to explode when they're tampered with. Some of them inject trackers into the spine. Some of them just tear you apart. Good thing Ross had the oldest models."

Wanda looked up at Amelia in alarm as Sam flicked his flashlight beam downwards to shine in Amelia's eyes. "Are you telling me there was a chance that thing was going to blow up? And you just had us all standing around it?"

Amelia grimaced and stood, mostly to evade the light that was half blinding her. "I know what I'm doing. Wanda was perfectly safe with Felix and me. But people tend to get jumpy when you insinuate there's a bomb strapped to their neck." She looked at Wanda and for the first time there was warmth in Amelia's stormy eyes. "I didn't want you to panic."

"I am glad you did not tell me," Wanda said slowly. Her pale fingers soothed along her neck. "She is right, Sam. It would have made us all that much more tense.

"Or we could have been more prepared," Sam countered.

Amelia just shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to deceive you. I just needed to work quickly and that meant keeping some details to myself." Sam's expression was dark but he gave a brisk nod. He didn't like it. Was pretty sure he didn't like _her_. And he didn't agree with her call. Arguing about it though, wasn't going to do him a lick of good.

Scott was inspecting the discarded collar. It was far heavier than it looked, the metal normal enough. It's design was unlike anything he'd ever encountered before. It seemed to be some sort of frequency emitting device coupled with electrical impulse dampeners but tuned very specifically. "This is super sophisticated stuff. Did you say it's an older model? I've never seen anything like this before."

Amelia flinched. She hadn't meant to say that. Even innocuous comments could be dangerous if she wasn't careful. These were the Avengers. Amelia would have to be more careful what she said. "This isn't my first time in a collar," she answered vaguely. "People have a hard time with Mutants.

"Mutants?" Steve hadn't missed her evasive answer.

"Yes. Mutants. Enhanced. Children of the Atom. Inhuman. Take your pick." Amelia forced herself to respond. She didn't want to answer anymore questions, especially not from Steve Rogers. Amelia just wanted to go home and forget this nightmare had ever happened. Her fingers touched the small cylinder still attached to her belt. Home was a long way off. "If you're ready I can walk you through removing my collar. Felix can help."

She was speaking to Steve but not looking at him. Amelia couldn't seem to bring herself to meet those familiar blue eyes without breaking into a cold sweat. The idea of him being close enough to touch her required every ounce of Amelia's self-control to keep from backing into a corner to hyperventilate. He was looking at her, his arms folded across his chest. There was a bit of a smirk at his lips as he stated very plainly, and very firmly, "No."

"No?" Amelia was confused and her head tipped to the side. "No, what?"

"No, I will not be letting you out of that collar just yet. I think we've all been fairly accommodating to you. We let you out of the cell. Got you your... Felix back. Took you off the Raft. We even trusted you to help Wanda. But all we know about you is your name. Mia, I can't in good conscience take that collar off you when we don't even know what you did to get put in a cell in the first place. And not just any cell. Ross saw fit to put you in the most secure prison in the world. I think we deserve an explanation."


	4. Chapter 4

He wasn't going to help her.

A stunned silence hung in the air as Amelia blinked down at Steve's boots and cursed herself for not seeing this coming. Never mind that it was the same thing she would have done if their roles were reversed. Knowing it was the _right_ decision based on the information she had made available didn't make it any easier to swallow. She was going to suffer for her secrets.

Amelia's hands fluttered uselessly at her sides. Mentally she was going through her options, trying to decide what she could say to convince them that she was more useful without the collar than with it. She wasn't going to lie. They'd be able to tell if she was lying. But the truth wasn't exactly an option, either. What it came down to was neither Steve nor Amelia could bring themselves to unconditionally trust the other. Steve couldn't let a potentially dangerous Enhanced loose to run amok and Amelia couldn't tell them who she was or how she had ended up on the Raft to begin with.

It was going to be an uncomfortable stalemate.

Slowly Amelia let her stormy blue eyes drift upward to lock with the man himself. Captain America. The First Avenger. Leader of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Frustration, annoyance, awe... All shown brightly in the depths of her gaze, eyes far too expressive for her own good, but all Steve could focus on was the fear. Her eyes met his and he was stricken by the terror there. She was scared to death. Of _him._ "Mia..."

Amelia's mouth closed with an audible _snap_. She was scared but she wasn't in the habit of letting something as trivial as mind numbing terror curtail her and she wasn't going to tell Steve Rogers a damn thing. Amelia could deal with the collar for a little while longer. If none of them were going to help her than she would run off the first chance she got and find someone who would. Problem solved.

Steve saw the resolution cross her features. He'd seen that look before on a hundred other faces. Stubborn. Defensive. Someone who thought they could out-strategize him. Those people were usually wrong. A small smile hinted at the corners of his mouth as he tried to lure even a tiny bit of information from their tiny, frightened stray. "Mia. I'm not asking for a detailed biography," -yet- "Just a show of good faith. A little trust."

Sam had thought it would take a stronger woman than the one before them to be unmoved by Captain America. The man had an easy charm that most women, and a few men, found totally disarming but Amelia was not having it for a second. If the situation weren't so serious, Sam would have found it absolutely hilarious. Steve was rarely rejected with such enthusiasm. Instead, Sam just added Amelia's clear dislike for his patriotic friend to the ever-growing list of mysteries surrounding the stubborn blonde.

Steve hadn't taken his eyes off the girl, his gaze unwavering but as kind and gentle as his voice. He felt like he was trying to coax a skittish animal toward him. Move slowly. Speak calmly. Show her you mean no harm. Steve figured Amelia had every right to be a bit gun shy around strangers after being trapped in a cell for... Well, he wasn't sure how long she'd been down there. Steve was just trying to determine if she had been there for a valid reason. Or for a Ross reason.

"Can you tell us anything, Mia? Maybe about your Enhancement?" Steve watched her lips press together in an obvious refusal. "How about just your last name? Where you're from?" Still nothing. "How did you end up on the Raft? How long were you there? Anything, Mia. Give us anything." He took a step toward her and Amelia flinched back in alarm, bumping into Sam. Steve paused, looking frustrated by her aversion to him.

"Easy, sweetheart." Sam caught Amelia by her shoulders and made sure she was steady on her feet. "He isn't being unreasonable, you know." He peered down at her, amused by her stubbornness. Amelia looked up at him and Sam had to give the girl credit. She was shaking like a leaf but she was still facing off against Captain America and managing to not capitulate. Clearly she was not very bright, but Amelia was tough. "We haven't even started asking the hard questions yet."

Amelia pushed away from Sam and tugged at her collar, clearly frustrated. They didn't know what they were asking. How could they? Amelia would never be able to explain to any of these Avengers what it was like for mutants where she came from. At least not to their satisfaction and Steve was clearly not going to budge on this.

He had taken the girl from the Raft and that made Amelia, and any chaos she stirred up, Steve's responsibility. He couldn't just let her run wild. They were wasting time, hurtling through the sky toward the new Secret Avenger's headquarters in Wakanda. They had to come to some sort of understanding before the quinjet touched down. "Ok. Here are the facts. We don't know you. We don't know who you are, where you're from, what you can do, or how you ended up on the Raft. We don't even know where you got your... tech." He pointed to Felix. "These are all questions I am going to need answered before I can take that thing off your neck. Do you understand?"

With a nod, Amelia tried not to look too put out. "Yessir."

Steve's eyebrow popped up at the immediate, albeit quiet, military response. He hadn't been expecting that. She was tiny and soft and not trained in any fighting style that he could tell. Amelia didn't carry herself like most soldiers. Judging by how she'd behaved as they fought their way off the Raft, Amelia was more likely a dancer. It was possible he was wrong, but Steve was observant. That's probably why he couldn't shake the feeling there was something slightly familiar about Amelia. Something subtle that Steve couldn't put his finger on.

"I'm also not just letting you run off the moment we land, either. You're our responsibility until we can get some clarity on you and your situation." His statement made Amelia's eyes widen. She'd been planning to do just that. To take off the minute they turned their backs and go find a way to get the collar off on her own. Felix could do it if he had the time but her collar wasn't like Wanda's. It wasn't an old model. "Mia..."

"You don't understand. It isn't that I _won't_ tell you. It's that I _can't_ tell you. I know you have no reason to trust me but I'm not the threat."

"So there _is_ a threat." Wanda had been listening carefully. There was a lot being unsaid that the girl's body language was saying for her. Amelia was clearly frustrated, not just with Steve and Sam, but with herself. She was scared of Steve, which Wanda found fascinating. People were almost always in awe of the man, downright respectful, but Amelia acted repulsed. Wanda could see Amelia's mind race with every question presented to her, and noticed the way she pressed her lips together, actively stopping herself from answering. When Amelia said she _couldn't_ , Wanda believed her.

Expression pensive, the Scarlet Witch soothed her long fingers over the red mark that encircled her throat. She was slightly less patient than her older teammates and not nearly as military minded. Amelia had been kind to her. Helpful. Even on the Raft when Wanda had been strapped into that straight jacket Amelia's soft singing had been the only calming influence in an otherwise bleak situation. There was a way around Amelia's stubborn decision be uncooperative but Wanda didn't relish the thought of having to peek into Amelia's mind to forcibly pull the answers out. If the girl remained intransigent, however, there might not be a choice.

Truly, Wanda hoped it would not come to that. "Mia... Is there a threat?"

There was a moment of strained silence. Amelia's mouth worked soundlessly as she struggled to come up with an acceptable answer to Wanda's inquiry. She hesitated, miserable, and slowly nodded.

That small admission was more than Steve had honestly hoped for. He resisted the impulse to put a reassuring hand on the small woman's shoulder. Steve didn't like seeing anyone in distress but the way Amelia responded to his proximity indicated that touching her would not be well received so instead he just offered her a small smile. "It's a start."

"It's vague is what it is," Sam sighed. "What's the threat? Who's being threatened?"

A girlish shriek rent the air and everyone jumped. Steve turned to face whatever threat was bearing down, fists up. Sam yanked Amelia behind him, protectively. Wanda was on her feet, hands already wrapped in a swirling red energy.

Scott stood in the middle of the cabin, shaking out his hand and looking bashful. Wanda's discarded collar was on the ground in front of him, vibrating violently. "It shocked me," he grumbled. "I was only looking at it. That's a really high voltage for its size. If that had gone off around Wanda's neck..." All of their eyes moved to Amelia.

The blonde shrugged. "At least now we know there wasn't a bomb in it. You just had a shock collar."

"You don't seem worried," Sam observed. "What if yours goes off?"

"Mine's not a shock collar."

It was like pulling teeth with this girl. Steve and Sam both just stared down at Amelia until she broke with a scowl. "I'm wearing a custom made inhibitor," she growled. "A non-lethal, injection collar. He doesn't want me dead. Just contained so if I try to take it off, I get shot up with a paralytic. Even if I managed to ditch the collar, I get put down and can't move for hours. It gives him... It gives _them_ time to find me and put me back in it."

Sam had not missed the rapid correction. He cast a look at Steve and a nod from the super soldier indicated he had heard it, too. "Mia, are you in danger?" Sam asked, his habitual amusement diminished.

"No," Amelia finally answered and cast her stormy eyes to Steve Rogers. "You are. I'm just here to help."


End file.
